Right Thought

Thinking about "right thinking" today. Someone recently asked me, during a group conversation about all the things that are wrong in the world, "well, what are YOU going to do about it?" The question was delivered in a bit of an angry tone, and I felt myself bristle immediately as I tried to muster up an answer. I thought about it, and I really didn't have a good answer. The truth is, I don't know enough about what is really happening in the world to even venture a guess about what can be done to change it. The answer I gave was that all I feel competent to do at this stage in my life is to learn more about the truth--the objective reality that exists beyond my twisted perception--and connect with others who are interested in doing the same. Of course this was not satisfactory, but as far as I was concerned, there was a bigger question here, one which I don't think my assailant was interested in considering. The question is "what can I do?"

So let's start there. What can I do? Well, I am reasonably certain and confident that I have the ability to change my own perceptions and behavior. I can begin to understand more deeply what I believe and why I believe it. I can begin to take an honest look at how I act toward others, and I can try to uncover what it is that causes me to act that way. I can begin to listen more closely to the words that come out of my mouth, trying to perceive the inflection with which these utterances are delivered, and perhaps decide whether or not I wish to continue speaking in this manner. Lastly, I can step back for a moment, and take a candid look at the things I do.

So the answer to the question, "what are YOU going to do about it??" ["it" being the world, an injustice, or anything external to the self] is nothing, but not in the way a pessimist would dismiss the value of right action on the basis of perceived futility. No, the truth, at least as I currently understand it, is that there is nothing I can do which will directly and effectively change some condition which is external to me, because there are billions upon billions of additional influential factors simultaneously acting upon that very same condition. That condition may change, but if the condition involves conscious volition, it will change only when IT decides to. My actions and my words may influence it, but they do not change it. Even in the most extreme case of coercion, a choice is made between resistance and avoidance of suffering and/or death. Such it is with consciousness and free will.

However, I can indeed change my own patterns; I can change my beliefs, my words, and my actions. I can "be the change." I can turn my gaze inward to discover what within me finds a particular condition offensive, deplorable, or otherwise unacceptable. Perhaps when I meet the shadow within myself who is responsible for this negative emotional response, I will realize it is this to which I object, and the external condition will no longer be unacceptable to me. Perhaps when I discover the truth, I will still dislike the situation, but I will realize that nothing can be done to change it. And maybe I'll find out that the situation is indeed deplorable, and needs to be changed. Only after I have cleaned my own house, however, am I prepared to start out on that path.